It is a little known medical fact that the largest nerve center in the human body is in the pocketbook.

Don’t believe me? Just write about what people should do with their money and you’ll find out damn quick how uptight people are on the subject.

For those who only pick up a Daily when one is laying on the floor of your stall, I’ll offer a brief summary. After all, maybe you didn’t have to drop anchor last Friday.

Last week, I said that Bill Gates doesn’t deserve to be considered a great man for his $3 billion dollar charitable donation.

I was unprepared for the backlash I have received since then.

How were you people raised? Weren’t you taught at an early age that it’s our duty as members of the proletariat to bring down the rich?

Come on, people; we’re in this fight together.

You’re falling victim to the type of divide and conquer strategy theorized by Marx. There are two types of people in this world: the rich and everybody else.

One of the greatest crimes perpetuated in this country is that the rich have convinced the poor to fight amongst themselves rather than against the powerful elite holding them down.

Too many have bought into the whole capitalism thing a little too much. You’re looking in your wallet to see how much worth you have as a human being. Which in my case would be about $2, a library card and a receipt for 26 pounds of kosher sausage.

Unfortunately, in a capitalist society, people will always justify their existence in terms of their income.

Max Weber theorized about the root of this in “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.” Weber believed that modern capitalism evolved as a result of the Calvinist belief in pre-destination.

Calvinists believed there was no way to know if you were one of the elect. At the same time, they believed if you were successful in business, it was a good sign that you had “saved” written all over your soul.

So, with a crudely moral justification for screwing your neighbor out of house and home, capitalism really took off. And look at where it’s gotten us.

I don’t have a problem with the rich. I have a problem with the system that allows them to become rich at the expense of others.

And if you still believe someone can become wealthy without taking that money from other people, you’re a poster child for capitalist brainwashing.

Bill Gates is a good example. Sure, Bill Gates isn’t holding a gun to anyone’s head to make them buy his product.

But he is gleaning a fairly fat chunk of profit off the good people of the world.

Not only that, but Gates has been accused of putting out flawed software so that consumers are forced to buy his upgrades. He’s also facing an anti-trust suit for packaging his Web browser with his operating system.

It isn’t too hard to see who is getting screwed here; it’s you and me, folks.

Gates is, by no means, a unique case. Believe it or not, it is difficult to make obscenely large sums of money without manipulation and deceit.

So why are people so quick to defend the actions of a corporate parasite like Gates? I think I know why.

It’s because all you junior capitalists out there want to be just like him. You want to be rich, powerful and guilt-free.

You know what, though? I honestly don’t have a big problem with Gates. I think he can serve as a kind of a role model for computer geeks worldwide. After all, every kid in his dorm room playing “Warcraft” has a dream.

But by any moral standard other than Calvinist pre-destination, he has done nothing to make him worthy of being considered a great man. Shame on anyone who mistakes income for virtue.

On the day that Mother Teresa died, her story was pushed to page two by the death of a wealthy blue-blood. TV newscasts were laden with testimonials about Princess Di’s tremendous acts of charity.

I don’t even need to explain the irony there.

We’ve got a real problem when our society not only worships the wealthy for taking our money but also worships them for giving it back to us.

There is a huge amount of economic inequality in this country, and I’m surprised at how many people are willing to believe it’s only because you’re not one of the “elect.”

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Ben Godar is a junior in sociology from Ames. If anyone wants a piece, he’ll be in the parking lot with a tire iron.